Trailer Reviews: Jumanji: Welcome to the Foreign Inhumans Note

The last post got some positive feedback, so let’s try this again, shall we? Today, some quick and dirty reviews of some trailers that came out recently.

Let’s begin with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. First off, I should say that I have just as much nostalgia for the original Jumanji as the next person, probably a lot more. I got it on DVD when it first came out, and I rewatched it a bunch as a kid. Robin Williams was one of the first comedians I ever really adored, along with Groucho Marx, and so the original Jumanji holds a special place in my heart.

That said, I am able to view this “soft reboot”, as the kids and studio executives are calling it these days, as something altogether separate from the original. I can’t really say if that is a result of something the new trailer did, so I won’t make any judgement about that yet. However, being able to look at it separately definitely helps. By all appearances, this Jumanji looks like big-budget, fast-paced, action comedy. From what I can see in the trailer, it will likely have those traditional after-school special values that every Disney channel show hopes to espouse. Don’t bully, you can be better if you try, everyone is Dwayne Johnson on the inside, that kinda stuff. Which is fine, I don’t have a problem with it. I am genuinely glad that they didn’t try to ape off (pardon the pun) the atmosphere and vibe of the original and really just took their own direction with it. The fact that their direction is not necessarily unique in this day and age is not a problem for me. So, all said and done, Jumanji looks fun. Might watch it, who knows.

Next up, we have The Foreigner. This is the new film from Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan. Jackie is an old ex-spy dude who’s daughter gets blown up in a IRA bombing, and he accuses one of the people in charge of the investigation of being in on it, that person being Pierce Brosnan’s character. At least, that’s what I think happened in the trailer. It was a little messy. Anyways, Jackie goes on an angry rage spree, a la Liam Neeson in Taken, and tries to force Bronsnan’s hand. The movie looks fun, albeit completely unoriginal at this point. I like Jackie Chan, and this is him in something that he usually doesn’t do. He doesn’t do moody stuff and so just seeing him in this is a nice novelty. I haven’t seen that new Police Story movie where he’s old and pissed off so maybe this isn’t exactly a new turn for him. Regardless, Jackie is about the only reason I would go see this movie, it doesn’t seem that great otherwise. It’s a meh from me on this one.

Third on the list for today is the trailer for the new Marvel presents ABC’s The Inhumans series. And I’m just gonna stop there. We actually aren’t going to talk about the trailer. I’m just going to tell you my final opinion on it and then we are going on to something else. It looks bad. That’s all. The trailer looks like lifeless, emotionless garbage. The Inhumans are a moderately interesting mix of political intrigue with overtones of class struggle and genealogical purity stuff and so on. So why does the trailer look like that of a TNT original? It looks like boring trash. Okay, let’s move on. It’s a strong no for me.

Lastly, we have Death Note on Netflix. There is probably a better time than now to talk about American re imaginings of popular international properties, and so I will not address it here. However, Death Note did not leave with good impressions. It just seemed… underdone? I don’t think they went dark or stylistic enough, but maybe the trailer people didn’t do a good enough job and that stuff may be in the show. However, judging from the trailer alone, it doesn’t looks quite dark enough. The actor for Light has some pretty lame facial expressions, so we are in for a bumpy ride with his acting. I can only hope L is done better. It’s an iffy meh, probably no from me. If I were to say a single thing on the idea of adapting Death Note, it would be this: if I want to read Death Note, I will go read it. The manga exists. If I want to watch it, I will watch the anime, it exists. I don’t need this new Death Note if I want my fix of Death Note. This remake is unnecessary IF it doesn’t offer anything really new on it’s own. From the look of it, it does not. We will see in time though.